


How the Mins Stole Christmas

by hannielemonade



Category: Stray Kids (Band)
Genre: M/M, Minor Kim Seungmin/Lee Felix, hyunjin literally only shows up at the end
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-25
Updated: 2020-12-25
Packaged: 2021-03-10 23:15:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,214
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28215330
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hannielemonade/pseuds/hannielemonade
Summary: Jisung and Felix are in charge of hosting this year’s Christmas get-together. The eight of them have been doing this for years now, it shouldn’t be any different this time, right?Or, the one where the twins are oblivious and the Mins almost steal Christmas.
Relationships: Han Jisung | Han/Lee Minho | Lee Know
Comments: 2
Kudos: 56
Collections: STAY CAROLS 2020





	How the Mins Stole Christmas

**Author's Note:**

> prompt: love confessions on a Christmas dinner after being best friends for years

“So, do you still want to help with the cookies or...?” Felix lifted an eyebrow at his older twin, who was currently entangled in a mess of green wires in the middle of their living room carpet. In hindsight, perhaps letting him set up the lights wasn’t such a smart way to keep him out of the kitchen.

“Felix!” Jisung yelped, attempting to roll himself around. After 5 more seconds of both internal and external struggling, the brunette quickly gives up and flops back down. Shoulders slumping in distraught. “Please send help.”

The younger twin ponders his options. On one hand, the poor boy does seem kind of pitiful lying there trapped in a coil of Christmas lights, but on the other, they wouldn’t have to worry about him causing any other potential damage. Don’t get Felix wrong, he would have helped on any other day, but the stakes were far too high this time. This year was supposed to be the one where he and Jisung proved they could be “un-chaotic” enough to organize the group’s annual Christmas dinner party. Which was just a fancy way they called their annual holiday get-together, but still. It was Christmas, and they were gonna have dinner together, therefore it was a Christmas dinner party.

Oops, he was getting distracted again.

“Sorry, Jisung, I would help you but my hands are kind of covered in cookie dough right now- and _no_ , you may not lick them clean,” Felix’s stern tone was followed by a pitiful whine from the bundle of Christmas lights, “But I can call Minho over, he’s just next door anyway.”

“Please, he’d probably just start decorating me instead…” Jisung grumbled, but his twin was already walking off to the balcony- their primary mode of communication with the aforementioned neighbor.

Truth be told, the three have been neighbors for as long as they could remember. Back then, their rooms were directly opposite from one another, and they “discovered” this communication method after Minho threw a shoe at Jisung’s window. From then on, it just became a habit to give the other a literal holler whenever they needed something, even after they all got phones.

As a result, the three lost contact after Minho went off to college, only for Jisung and Felix to bump into the guy again while moving into their new shared apartment two years later. Jisung had immediately demanded Minho give him his number, but the elder had just grinned and swept the two into a tight hug right in the middle of the hallway.

 _Gee, has it really been that long…?_ Felix wondered as he leaned himself against the balcony railings, “Minho, come collect your quokka!” Was all he yelled before spinning back around. Those gingerbread cookies weren’t going to frost themselves.

* * *

Fourteen years ago, a 6-year-old boy with plump round cheeks laid spread out on his back like a reverse starfish in the sandbox. An unamused 8-year-old was standing over him, hands tucked into the pockets of his shorts. That was Minho’s first impression of Jisung- a tiny child who had just finished throwing a tantrum over his inability to carry his sandcastle home.

And now, Minho was once again looking down at the same kid wearing the same pout. “Sorry for the trouble, Minho,” Felix had said apologetically while leading him to the living room, “You weren’t supposed to be here before the cookies.”

“No worries, this will be easy,” Minho smirked down at his other childhood friend, still wrapped tightly in Christmas lights, “My cats get themselves tangled in yarn all the time, too.”

Felix sent him a thankful smile before ducking back into the kitchen, leaving his poor twin in the questionable hands of their longtime neighbor.

Said twin was oddly quiet on the floor, possibly having tired himself out during his earlier struggle. Minho chuckled, squatting down to get a closer look at the wires. “Gotta say, you sure have a talent for wrapping,” he joked light-heartedly, “But you’re in luck, I should be able to unwrap you without using scissors.”

“Hey, stop talking as if I’m a present!” Jisung whined, but remained perfectly still so that Minho could actually save him from becoming a replacement for their Christmas tree.

The older merely laughed, fingers slowly threading one wire end through a few loops, “Speaking of presents, what did you ask for from Santa?” It wasn’t a trick question or anything. The group had agreed on a no gifts policy after Chan had gone over the price limit for the third time. Still, it was traditional to at least hope for something, right?

“I wished for cheesecake, obviously,” came the reply, and Minho was sure the younger could feel his eye-roll despite having his back to him. After a few seconds of comfortable silence as the older managed to get one of Jisung’s arms free, the brunette spoke again, almost as an afterthought, “What about you? Did you wish for anything this year?”

Minho made a noncommittal hum, gently tugging the younger upright as he unlooped one layer around the latter’s waist. He let the silence settle for a few more seconds, a brief glance at the brunette’s face told him it wasn’t as welcomed this time. Just to appease him, Minho grabbed a ribbon from one of the opened boxes of Christmas decorations, pressing it against the side of Jisung’s head.

“Uh, Minho?” The younger’s eyes flitted from Minho’s hand to his face, “What are you doing?”

“Answering your question.”

Jisung blinked, round eyes completely serious. “You want a ribbon?”

Changbin had once joked that JIsung wouldn’t know if someone had a crush on him even if they hit him with a sign that said **“I LIKE YOU”** in large bold letters. Minho regretted not making that sign.

“I mean- you can have that one if you’d like?” Goodness, he’s still going on about that?

“I don’t want your ribbon, Jisung.”

“But you just said-”

“Look, I need to concentrate on getting you out of these, so stay still, okay?”

The younger became silent again after that. It made Minho feel a little bad, but on the other hand… just _why_ did he have to be this oblivious? Well, to be fair, maybe it wasn’t really Jisung’s fault, Minho just keeps digging holes for himself to jump into.

As Minho pondered for the nth time why he had to fall for such a dense soul, Jisung fell forward gently, leaning his cheek against the older’s shoulder. The action made Minho’s brain malfunction for a split second before he returned to untangling the wires along Jisung’s back, trying to ignore how the younger was nuzzling against him out of habit.

“You dyed your hair red,” Jisung murmured, seemingly unbothered by the few stray strands brushing against his cheek from their close proximity, “It looks good.”

“Thanks, I think it looks good, too.” He responded in true Minho fashion despite his heart rate spiking.

The younger scoffed, and it was Minho’s turn to picture that eye-roll. The wires were beginning to slacken significantly, so if he wanted to get any banters in without the physical consequences, he’d have to throw them out fast. But before he could get another tease in, the younger spoke again, words slightly muffled as he pressed closer into the older, “Thanks for coming over.”

Once again, Minho found himself halting all movement just from a few words from the brunette. Pathetic. “What’s this about? Are you trying to swindle cheesecake money out of me?” He joked, a poor attempt at sounding nonchalant.

“No, I’m just- I’m glad you’re here.” Jisung said, almost with finality. Before Minho could over-analyze what that meant, the younger nuzzled himself almost impossibly closer, successfully distracting the heck out of Minho.

The redhead wondered if this was going to be his entire Christmas Eve. Luckily (or not), their little moment was then rudely interrupted by someone incessantly knocking on the door. He peered over at Felix, catching the younger’s pleading eyes before they looked down at the latter’s still very much dough-covered hands.

“I’m really sorry for this, Minho, especially since you’re still dealing with Jisung-”

“It’s fine, I’ll get it,” the older said, waving his friend’s apology away as he slipped out of… whatever it was he and Jisung were doing. Was it a hug? At least Minho would like to think of it as one. He would also like to think that he heard a whine from the tangled up overgrown quokka on the floor.

Walking over to the doorway, Minho threw it open just as their (extremely) early guest brought their hand up to knock again. They both froze in place.

“What are _you_ doing here?” Seungmin asked, not even bothering to hide his irritation.

“Merry Christmas to you, too,” Minho replied dryly, stepping away from the doorway to make space for their puppy-like friend.

Seungmin shook his head, looking genuinely distraught by Minho’s presence, which the older was starting to think he should be taking offense to. “This wasn’t part of the plan. You weren’t supposed to be here.”

“Plan?” Minho echoed, watching as Seungmin’s eyes darted around the room, they briefly landed on a certain tangled mess on the living room floor before shifting away, seemingly unbothered. Or at least, not more bothered than he already was.

Before their newly arrived guest could explain himself further, a certain busy baker briefly popped his head out of the kitchen, “Seungmin, you’re early!”

“Oh, um, yeah, hey, I just wanted to drop these off…” Ignoring the judgmental stare radiating from his left, Seungmin placed two items on the kitchen counter, tucking his hands back into his pockets in what he hoped to be a casual way. The redhead next to him noticed an uncertain quiver in his gaze but chose not to comment on it.

“New cookie cutters? Aw, you’re the sweetest!” Felix cooed, leaning over the island to check out the molds.

“Wow, a kitten and a puppy. Sure reminds you of certain people, huh?” Minho drawled as he peered over Seungmin’s shoulder, not missing the nasty glare shot his way from the latter.

“I know, Seungmin must have been thinking of Soonie and Kkami!” The blonde’s eyes sparkled as he picked up the molds for a closer look. From a particular angle, his eyes appeared framed by the animal shapes like one of those cheesy vacation sunglasses, and maybe it shouldn’t come off as adorable as it did, but Felix was just magical that way.

The eldest couldn’t help snickering at Seungmin’s dismay. He knew it was hypocritical of him, but well, it’s funny when it’s happening to someone else.

“It’s still rather early though… why don’t you join Minho in the living room?”

A weak whine.

“Um, and maybe help Jisung, I guess.” Felix added, rolling his eyes slightly, “Though I don’t understand why he can’t get himself out now that he has one arm free… actually, never mind, it’s probably better not to leave him alone for too long.”

“Right,” Minho suppressed a chuckle at the betrayed wail (“Lix!”) Jisung let out, “I’ll get back to it then.” 

As he turned back to the living room and left Felix to continue his baking, a hand shot out and tugged him into the hallway outside the twins' bedroom. It would have felt rather terrifying if this wasn’t completely expected from a certain purple haired puppy, “What now, Seungmin?”

The younger crossed his arms indignantly, fixing Minho with a glare that was honestly hard to take seriously given his naturally soft features. Nonetheless, the older allowed his expression to remain neutral so that Seungmin could finally explain himself.

“You ruined my plan, so now you have to fix it.”

“First of all, I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Minho sighed, counting off on his fingers, “Second, let’s say I did ‘ruin’ your plan, it’s not like it was intentional. Besides, weren’t you just gonna drop off those deeply suggestive cookie cutters?” The redhead wiggled his brows teasingly, earning him a smack on the shoulder.

“Well, if you weren’t here, we’d be baking cookies together right now-”

“Ah yes, because as we all know, baking is a highly romantically charged activity.”

“Then I would name a cat cookie after him-”

“ _And eat it?_ That’s a bit grotesque, don’t you think?” Minho wrinkled his nose in feigned disgust as the younger continued his ramble, ignoring the verbal jabs.

“A puppy one after me, put them together like they’re kissing and hope he gets the message.” Seungmin finishes, the scowl not lifting from his face. In fact, it seemed to have deepened now that he just listened to himself explain his ruined plan out loud.

The older blinked, wondering if he should even say anything when clearly the younger was growing more and more appalled by himself the longer their “conversation” went.

“Well…” Minho began, “What’s stopping you from asking him to bake together now?”

“The moment’s gone, Minho.” Seungmin shook his head, brows still furrowed.

“You know, you sound a lot like Jisung right now. I expected more of a- how do I put this- _grounded_ performance from you.”

“Yeah, I don’t know,” the younger sighed, running a hand through his hair, “I figured if I wanted to get his attention, I’d have to think of something Felix would think of, you know?”

“Sure,” Minho nodded, his mind going back to the probably still struggling boy in the living room, wondering why he’s never thought about confessing in Jisung fashion before. If he did it in that quokka’s “language”, there was no way he’d misunderstand, right? “Okay, but even if I hadn’t come over, Jisung would probably still be here causing trouble.”

“I was planning on locking him in the bathroom until the cookies were done.”

“You demon.”

“Shut up, Felix would have let me if it meant keeping his precious baked goods safe.”

That, Minho couldn’t disagree.

“Fine. How about this? I distract Jisung while you go get your flirt on.” The older suggested, jerking his thumb towards the living room’s direction accompanied by a slight head tilt.

Seungmin studied him through narrowed eyes, “I know I was the one demanding help earlier, but now that you’re so complicit… it seems like a trick somehow.”

“Aw, come on, when have I ever warranted such suspicion from you?”

And the classic puppy scowl returned.

“Wow. Well, if you must know, we’re kind of in the same boat here,” Minho sighed dramatically, shoulders slumping, “I, too, have a crush who’s as dense as a lump of coal.”

Seungmin continued to stare at him with the same judgmental look, “That’s actually not very dense-”

“Oh shush, I was trying to make a Christmas reference to match the mood, but I see my efforts are not appreciated,” Minho sniffed, laughing to himself when the younger’s judging stare morphed into exasperation. However, the latter’s arms weren’t gripping each other so tensely anymore, so he counted that as a win.

“You’re ridiculous. Maybe that’s why Jisung-”

“Guys?”

The two hallway conspirators jumped as a voice not belonging to either of them or the twins interrupted their discussion. They both turned towards the source, surprised that someone else would dare drop in this early.

A messy mop of dark hair came into view as Chan rounded the corner, a puzzled look on his face, “Oh, figured it’d be you two. Why was Jisung tied up on the floor?”

Minho was the first to recover, letting out a loud laugh while Seungmin gave their mutual friend a rather tight smile. The poor kid was probably lamenting over having a new obstacle to get around, all just for quality alone time with a certain blonde.

As the redhead made his way down the hall back towards the living room, he commented halfheartedly, “ _Was?_ So he managed to wiggle himself out after all?”

Chan shrugged, waiting for him to catch up so that they could walk shoulder to shoulder, “It didn’t seem like he was in a hurry to get out, to be honest.” For some reason, the eldest of their friend group glanced over at Minho in an almost sly manner, a ghost of a smirk tugging at his lips as he questioned, “You wouldn’t know anything about that, would you?”

Minho only blinked. Perhaps Chan was passively accusing him for letting Jisung hang out with his cats too much? Who knows what this sleep-deprived workaholic was thinking.

* * *

It’s now been about an hour into this “pre-party” and Minho was about to lose his mind. Thankfully, no one else has burst through the door to potentially disrupt Seungmin in his courting (aka., watching Felix work in the kitchen from the other side of the counter like a lovesick puppy), at least not after Chan. Turns out the music producer just came in to borrow Jisung’s laptop and had since locked himself in his younger colleague’s room.

What’s really driving him crazy is the absolutely adorable walking disaster named Han Jisung, which shouldn’t be anything new, really. But Minho really needed to question whether said humanized hazard was truly clueless about the effect his actions had on his poor neighbor slash best friend.

Every time Jisung did that thing where he laughs so hard that he falls against Minho’s shoulder, the latter felt like his heart would just implode and silently congratulated himself on keeping a straight face throughout their banter. There was this one instance where he made the mistake of looking down as Jisung stood on his tippy toes to secure a loop of Christmas lights around the top of the tree, his bottom lip jutting out slightly in a concentrating pout. Minho paused in the middle of spreading out the bottom branches, gaze completely zeroed in on the younger’s adorable side profile.

Yup, watch this date be engraved into his tombstone. He could feel it, tonight was the night his miserable pining would end.

“Minho?”

One way or another.

He could barely register Jisung’s angle shifting, their eyes now locked together as Minho continued to stare fondly. Naturally, he missed the way Jisung flinched back in surprise, having not expected the older to already be looking at him. If Minho had enough willpower to unglue himself from the staring contest, he would have noticed pink dusting the other’s perfectly round cheeks that he was admiring just a few seconds ago.

Minho’s body was practically on autopilot as he leaned in closer, his original task completely forgotten as the source of his butterflies remained still, eyes wide and unmoving as they watched the older’s every move. Time seemed to drag on forever, but in reality it probably took less than two seconds for the tips of their noses to touch. That jolted Minho back to his senses.

“Jisung…”

“Y-yeah?”

“Why is there mistletoe behind your ear?” The older frowned, untucking the small bundle which the younger was wearing like a single wild flower.

Jisung pouted, but whether it was from disappointment towards the interruption or having his accessory taken, Minho had no idea. “So I can be under the mistletoe all the time.”

The redhead laughed, twirling the artificial plant between his fingers, “Is our little Jisung starving for kisses?”

“Sh-shut up, you know I like my kisses!”

“I sure do,” Minho chuckled, cupping the younger’s cheek (and totally did not relish in its softness) and bringing their faces close again, “Well, who am I to question tradition?” He murmured, feeling Jisung grow warm under his touch.

Nothing was between them but a few inches of air. Minho could see Jisung’s eyelashes flutter as the latter closed his eyes. _He’s expecting a_ kiss _kiss,_ the older realized. He wondered if it was alright for him to hope that this meant something more than their regular cheek kisses.

They’ve been best friends since forever, but Minho could probably count on one hand the number of times he’s kissed Jisung. He just wouldn’t be able to handle it if they did it as frequently as the twins, so he made them a special occurrence that usually happened on Christmas, courtesy of the mistletoe rule.

He didn’t think much of it, at least not more than a selfish chance for him to get a kiss in without anyone questioning his motives. Jisung was notorious in their friend group for demanding kisses during the holiday season, which helped with Minho’s cover. Knowing that the younger didn’t specifically seek his kisses always put a damper on his mood though.

“How are you this hard to read?” Minho murmured, giggling as Jisung puckered his lips boldly, one eye peeking impatiently when he felt no signs of the older following through.

“Look, I don’t know how I can possibly make this any clearer, but please just kiss me already, geez!” The greatly kiss deprived quokka griped, glaring at the amused redhead. It was hard to take such an adorable view seriously.

“Okay, okay,” Minho chuckled, “Merry Christmas to me.”

Their lips finally connect, granting the contact that they have both been craving. Soft, gentle, maybe a little too cautious on Minho’s part as he still wasn’t quite sure that this wasn’t all just a dream. Maybe Jisung had accidentally knocked him out with sheer cuteness, which wasn’t the worst way to go, honestly. Especially if it meant getting to kiss some version of Jisung.

The younger pulled away first, eyes sparkling with joy. He leaned in again and placed a peck on the older’s nose, giggling softly as a blush immediately bloomed over the latter’s cheeks.

“To heck with the no gifts rule, this is the best present ever,” Minho sighed, pressing his lips to the younger’s forehead as retaliation for the sneak attack.

“Honestly, you were taking forever to confess so I had to take matters into my own hands!” Jisung pouted, nuzzling closer into the older’s chest.

“Y-you knew? Since when?” This sneaky quokka… how long has he been just teasing Minho’s poor heart?

“Since you came to help me out of the wires!” Jisung really shouldn’t be sounding that proud of himself for a discovery made less than two hours ago, especially over something that’s been around for more than five years.

The redhead sighed, rubbing his forehead tiredly, “Jisung, I’ve loved you since like, high school.”

The younger gaped, “Y-you love me?”

“ _That’s_ what you choose to focus on?”

“Oh, big whoop, I’ve loved you since middle school.” The quokka rolled his eyes, crossing his arms as if to show that he’s won some sort of competition between the two.

Minho narrowed his eyes, “And you’ve never bothered to tell me?”

“Hey, look who’s talking!”

The two glared at each other, eventually erupting into fits of laughter again, tickled by how ridiculous the whole situation was. Minho shook his head, feeling close to tears and his stomach was starting to ache. Love really does make you blind in more ways than one.

Speaking of which… “So, _you_ love me?” Minho smirked as Jisung began to calm down from all the laughing.

The brunette glanced away, suddenly shy again from the other’s steady gaze, “You already know the answer to that.”

“I want to hear it again anyway.”

“Gosh, you’re insufferable…” Jisung groaned, practically burying his face into the older’s shoulder out of embarrassment, “I love you… There, happy?”

The younger found himself getting swept into Minho’s arms, their chests pressed together as the latter leaned down to blow air against a reddening ear tip, “Very.”

It was hard to imagine how things could get any better, and maybe Minho was half right on that thought, for their moment was then abruptly cut short.

“Erm, it’s not that I’m not happy for you guys…” the newly advanced couple jumped at the awkward cough from the hallway, turning to see Chan looking deeply apologetic for interrupting the precious and long-awaited moment, “But you might want to come help the other two.”

Curious, they followed Chan into the kitchen, expecting to see a mess that needed to be cleaned up or traces of a food fight, but everything seemed relatively clean and normal, with Seungmin and Felix standing side-by-side, looking down at their work with very different expressions. One proud and the other stony.

“Jisung, Minho, look!” Felix showed off the plate with only two cookies, one in the shape of a cat and the other in the shape of a dog. They were both wearing frosting tuxedos. “Isn’t this the sweetest thing? It’s me and Seungmin!”

“Oh, wow, congrat-”

Seungmin held a hand up, halting Minho’s congratulatory words, “Wait for him to finish.”

“We’re the best men at your wedding!” Felix exclaimed proudly as Jisung cooed, coming over to admire their work properly.

Minho and Chan approached Seungmin, giving him pitying pats. “You meant for those to be grooms, didn’t you?”

“There’s always New Year’s…”

* * *

By the time the rest of their friends arrived, the only things the twins managed to have done was the half decorated tree and a single batch of cookies with only two properly frosted.

(“See, I knew this would happen so I bought snacks on the way and ordered a fried chicken set,” said Hyunjin, who had unknowingly saved Christmas.)


End file.
